In the past, makers of electrical wire have shipped products to their customers using wooden pallets. Typically, the wire manufacturer would ship individual reels of wound wire in corrugated boxes. The wire maker would stack the corrugated boxes on pallets and then tie them down to prevent movement during transportation. High volume customers, such as electric motor manufacturers, would then remove the reels from the boxes prior to de-spooling. This unpacking process wasted time and resources since the customers discarded the wooden pallets and corrugated boxes. Although wire distributors normally did not unpack individual reels, they nevertheless had to dispose of the wooden pallets.
To conserve resources, wire manufacturers began shipping wire on reels without corrugated boxes. They stacked the wire reels on pallets, and to prevent movement during transportation, placed at various points on the wooden pallet locator tabs that engage flanges on the reels. Although this shipping method lessened disposal problems associated with corrugated boxes, the user still had to dispose of the wooden pallet. To help solve this problem, some wire manufacturers began shipping wire on reusable molded plastic pallets. Like their wood counterparts, plastic pallets also employed various schemes to locate and secure the wire reels during transportation.
Though the use of reusable molded plastic pallets and the practice of shipping wire on reels without corrugated boxes have reduced waste disposal problems, other problems remain. For example, high volume customers cannot simply de-spool wire directly off the pallet. Instead, they must place individual reels in de-spooling shrouds to prevent the wire from whipping during the unwinding process. In addition, because reels are made in many different sizes, the placement of locator tabs and other structures to secure the reels during shipment varies depending upon the reel type. Thus, a wire manufacturer cannot normally use one pallet design to ship different types of reels. Moreover, a wire maker cannot use a pallet designed for shipping reels to a high volume user to ship wire contained in boxes or pails to a distributor. This proliferation of pallet designs has led to increased shipping costs for wire manufacturers.
Thus, an objective of the invention is to provide a reusable pallet assembly for transporting electrical wire that does not use wood or corrugated paper. Another objective of the invention is to provide a single pallet assembly for shipping wire contained on reels of many sizes. Still another objective of the invention is to provide a single pallet assembly that wire manufactures can use to ship wire on reels to high volume customers, and can also use to ship wire contained in boxes and pails to distributors. A further objective of the invention is to provide a pallet assembly that makers of wire can use to ship wire, and that customers can use to de-spool wire directly off the pallet.